Claire Curzan Swims 56.89 100 LCM Fly; #2 in 17-18 Age Group

2022 PRO SWIM SERIES – WESTMONT

17 year old Claire Curzan swam the #2 time in the 17-18 age group rankings in the 100 LCM butterfly ever tonight after winning the event in a time of 56.89 at the Westmont Pro Swim Series. Curzan now only sits behind fellow Olympian Torri Huske who holds the National Age Group record of 55.66 which she swam at Wave II Trials.

Tonight’s swim was just off of Curzan’s best of 56.20 which she swam back in April 2021 to set the 15-16 NAG record. Curzan also holds the 13-14 NAG record in the event as she swam a time of 58.61 back in April 2019.

Curzan was faster tonight than she was at the Tokyo Olympic Games as she swam a 57.49 in prelims and a 57.42 in semi-finals there. Tonight’s time was around what she swam at Olympic Trials as there she was a 57.61 in prelims, 56.81 in semifinals, and a 56.43 in finals.

Tonight (56.89) April 2021 (Best time of 56.20)
1st 50 split 26.72 26.21
2nd 50 split 30.17 29.99

The biggest difference between tonight’s swim and her best time was her speed going out in the first 50. Tonight she was 0.51 slower than she was in April 2021 when she set the 15-16 NAG record.

Notably, Curzan has been consistently swimming fast at both big and relatively small meets. For example, her 15-16 NAG record from April 2021 came at a TAC Titans premier meet in April. She also showed this by breaking the American Record not even a month ago at her high school state championships winning the 100 butterfly in a time of 49.24.

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Bud
2 years ago

I’ll never understand why NAGs don’t effect upwards. Kind of ridiculous to have swimmers chase NAGs which are slower than their PB lol

Admin
Reply to  Bud
2 years ago

There was a point in time where swimmers didn’t necessarily get faster in 17-18s than they were in 15-16s, especially for girls.

It kind of is a self-validating point, right? If records should go upward, then that presumes swimmers should get faster, and if they don’t get faster…then should the records have trailed upward?

teamwiess
2 years ago

Beisel was 206.4 in 2009 at 16 or 17 in addition to being 206.9 as a15 year old in 2008

Big Mac #1
2 years ago

So much fast swimming form the youngsters. Minakov and Marchand ar freshman, Macintosh is 15 and curzan is 17

RMS
2 years ago

How was her 56.20 not a world junior record??

Swimfan
Reply to  RMS
2 years ago

Either the TAC Titans pool is 49 meters long or that meet wasn’t ratified by USA Swimming.

RMS
Reply to  Swimfan
2 years ago

She swam this at a pro swim series meet, so not sure why it wasn’t counted. Can anyone from SwimSwam comment on this?

Wanna Sprite?
Reply to  RMS
2 years ago

Same with her 24.1 50 free

Tiny Bubbles
Reply to  Wanna Sprite?
2 years ago

And her 24.55 WJR (50 fly SCM) in December in Abu Dhabi

IM FAN
Reply to  RMS
2 years ago

WJRs just haven’t been getting ratified without rhyme or reason basically since their inception. The whole things a joke anyway since FINA couldn’t be bothered to do the pretty easy leg work of establishing the actual fastest junior times in history as WJRs. 56.06 by Sarah Sjostrom in 2009 is the actual record.

Last edited 2 years ago by IM FAN
SwimReason
Reply to  IM FAN
2 years ago

Even more bizarre: there are no less than EIGHT World Records from the FINA World Championships in Rome 2009. But not one single WJR was ratified.

Tiny Bubbles
Reply to  RMS
2 years ago

Ask Mike Unger
Even if the 56.20 is not ratified, one would think the 56.43 from OT’s would be 🤔. Assume the pool in Omaha is 50 m long!

Last edited 2 years ago by Tiny Bubbles

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022 and 2023 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. Currently, Anya is pursuing her B.A. in Economics and a minor in Government & Law at …

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